This invention relates to a damper for opening and closing a cooled air outlet, and particularly to a refrigerator temperature control apparatus for instantly operating the damper by utilizing electro-magnets.
Generally, a damper thermo installed in a conventional refrigerator detects changes in the condition of a which is, sealed in temperature sensing device by means of the shrinking and swelling of a bellows, and the operates a cooled air inflowing control plate by means of a link, thereby controling the amount of cooled air which flows into a cooled storage chamber by opening and closing of a cooled air outlet.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, when the temperature of the cooled storage chamber rises and cooled air flows into the cooled storage chamber, the gas temperature within the temperature sensing device 1 is raised by the expanding gas therein. Then the volume about the bellows 2 is increased thereby raising the link 3 connected to the bellows 2 and pushing downward the cooled air inflowing control plate 4 in the damper structure. Thus the cooled air inflowing control plate 4 is rotated around the rotation shaft 7 to automatically circulate cooled air within the cooled storage chamber.
On the other hand, should the temperature of the cooled storage chamber fall below the required temperature to store fresh food, the gas pressure in the temperature sensing device 1 decreases. At this time the spring 5 returns to its original position and pulls the link 3, whereby the control plate 4 is closed so as not to circulate the cooled air into the cooled storage chamber. A dial 6 is assembled to adjust the elastic force of the spring 5 connected to the control plate 4 and determines the inflow of cooled air.
However, such a mechanical type temperature control device has a slow responsive velocity relative to the pressure produced by the expansion and contraction of the gas, and furthermore the damper thermo should be provided with a heater for the prevention of error operation of the thermo body so that the temperature of the thermo thermal sensing device is maintained below a predetermined temperature.
Therefore in controlling the temperature of the cooled storage chamber, the operating time of the damper is delayed by the time required for the gas to expand the bellows and due to the necessity of a heater in the temperature sensing device of the refrigerator, a great amount of electric power is consumed by a prolonged use of the refrigerator even though the heater has a small energy consumption rate.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,841 and No. 3,759,051 show a refrigerator temperature control. In these patents, the refrigerator includes a fan and fan motor mounted within the freezer chamber for circulating air from the chamber, and a thermostat installed in the cooled storage chamber for sensing the temperature, wherein according to the detected temperature the fan motor is directly operated or a semi conductor switch is triggered thereby activating the fan motor which forces cooled air to the cooled air chamber. Particularly, the damper structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,841 is provided with two dampers; the first damper regulates the flow of air through the nozzle and thereby adjusts the relative portions of the cooled air from the evaporator, and the second damper is constructed to allow the inflow of the cooled air from the freezer chamber to the cooled storage chamber to be manually adjusted by opening the cooled air outlet.